


All My Friends Are Monsters (Clean Version)

by Havoka



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Clean Version, F/F, Multi, monster au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 18:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5385557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havoka/pseuds/Havoka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashley, a young human mage, is sent to pacify two monster girls. (Clean Version)</p>
            </blockquote>





	All My Friends Are Monsters (Clean Version)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the edited, "clean" version of this fic. If you're looking for the original, explicit version, it's right [here!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5385533)
> 
> Thanks in advance for reading!

Ashley lifted her softly-glowing staff to light the way before her. This cave was rumored to be the home of a terrible beast.

Ashley knew for a fact that not one, but _two_ monsters dwelled within it.

The small tunnel she traversed soon opened into a wide cavern. Its ceiling was high, and a small underground lake kept the air ever damp. The only light source at first was Ashley’s magical staff. She quickly cast a fire spell to light the torches she’d affixed to the walls during a previous outing. The flames cast light even to the farthest corners of the “room”.

The cave was suspiciously empty, but Ashley knew better. “Hello?” she said in a small voice. The word echoed a few times off the cavern walls.

The telltale clicking of chitin on rock soon answered her. From a crevice in the ceiling two spidery forelegs emerged – followed by a girl’s head. “Hi, Ashley!” the creature called as she emerged further from the crevice. She had the torso, upper body, and arms of a human girl, but the rest of her was entirely arachnid. Her lower half consisted of six shiny black legs and an enlarged, chitin-plated abdomen.

Ashley raised her staff. “You know you’re not supposed to go into town. There have been three different sightings of a ‘spider lady’ creeping around in the past few days.” Though she tried to sound brave, her voice shook as always. She hated being such a coward. She hated even more being a coward who had an obligation to protect all of her fellow townsfolk.

The arachne, who called herself Jessica, grinned, revealing four massive, curved fangs. “I’m sorry. You weren’t coming around! So I went looking for ya. I mean, who else am I supposed to hang out with? _That one_?”

She pointed a leg in the direction of the lake. Ashley noticed the tip of a tentacle sticking just out of the water. They were being spied on.

“I don’t know! But you’re not supposed to go scaring innocent people.” Ashley crossed her arms. Jessica was playing dumb, and they both knew it.

“Well now that you’re here I don’t _need_ to go scaring innocent people.” Jessica descended from the ceiling on a thick string of silk. She crawled over to Ashley and grinned.

Ashley had once been the sole survivor of a quest to kill these very monsters. Like her sadly typical, cowardly self, when they had come after her she’d begged for her life. She’d offered to do anything. That was nearly a year ago, and since then she’d become a sort of go-between for the human townsfolk and the monsters. The humans wanted the monsters, if not killed, then at least pacified. The monsters would only agree to pacifism under very specific circumstances.

After setting down her staff and satchel Ashley allowed herself to be scooped up by Jessica, who then scurried over to her web with her prize. Said web was just barely wide enough to let Jessica sit comfortably on it – she claimed it was too much work to bother making it any bigger. Fortunately that meant there was no room for her to stick Ashley to it while she was on it as well. Their first encounter Ash had gotten stuck so thoroughly that Jessica’d had to yank her off with her monster strength.

Jessica climbed up into the web, still holding Ashley. “So what’s up?” she asked, cradling her like a parent would a young child. “How’s the human world?”

Ashley shrugged as best she could in the other girl’s grasp. “It’s okay, I guess. People don’t really want to talk to me now that I’m, um, you know.” She waved her hand, encompassing the two of them. “Doing stuff like this.”

“Aw.” Jessica nuzzled her gently. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I mean, I guess it’s better than you guys killing everyone.”

At that Jessica laughed. “Yeah, it is!”

It hadn’t really been intended as a joke, but Ashley smiled as if it had been.

“Have I ever told you that you make me kinda miss my human body?” Jessica changed the subject, running her hands down Ashley’s back. “I had cute legs and a nice butt, just like you.”

Ashley blushed in spite of herself. “Wait,” she said after a moment, “You used to be human?”

“Oh, it was a looong time ago.” She pulled Ashley close to her chest and kissed the top of her head. “I’m a lot older than I look, little Ashley.”

Ashley reluctantly allowed herself to be held and kissed like a baby while Jessica began rambling about things that had happened since Ashley’s last visit. Despite her being a monster, Jessica’s life was not especially interesting, so most of her stories ended along the lines of “…and would you believe it, the thing I was looking for was right there the _whole time_!”

They were about twenty minutes into their cuddle and chat when they heard a giant splash, and something wet suddenly wrapped around one of Ashley’s ankles. Both Ashley and Jessica turned their heads in the direction of the lake.

Risen from the depths of the underground lake was the other monster who called the cave home. Her soaked, shoulder-length black hair stuck to her oily bare skin, the same pale white as the tentacles rising up on all sides of her. Her intense and fearsome eyes fixed on the human and spider-girl before her. One of her tentacles had Ashley’s ankle in its firm, sticky grip.

She smiled, exposing perfect white teeth much more human than monster. Then she plucked Ashley right out of Jessica’s grip, dangling the poor human upside-down in front of her.

While Jessica was only slightly larger than a tall human, Emily, some sort of octopus monster with a human upper body, six tentacles, and a pair of human arms like Jessica, was easily three or four times the size of a typical human. “Hi, Ashley,” she said as she dropped Ash gently onto the underside of another of her tentacles.

Ashley swallowed. “Hi, Emily.”

“Did you bring me anything?”

Ash nodded. “My bag is over with my staff.”

Emily flicked a tentacle out to Ashley’s pile of discarded items. She fished through it until she came upon a small satchel. With her suckers, she grabbed the satchel and brought it up to her human hands. “Better be something good… _ooh_.” She pulled out a clear plastic bag, letting some of Ashley’s gear from the satchel clatter to the floor in the process. “Oh, is this what I think it is?”

“Belgian dark chocolates with sea salted caramel centers.” The sizable bag had cost her an arm and a leg at a local specialty chocolatier, but Ash had decided that appeasing Emily so she didn’t lay waste to any nearby towns was probably worth the money.

“Oh my God, that sounds sinful.” She untied the little ribbon sealing the bag and reached inside. Shifting her hand around, she eventually plucked one chocolate from somewhere in the middle of the bunch. Then she brought Ashley up to eye level, and held the single chocolate out to her. “You eat one first.”

Ashley worked her way into a decently comfortable sitting position atop Emily’s tentacle. “Oh, no thanks,” she said, “I’m not really a big chocolate person-”

Emily’s smile morphed seamlessly into a scowl. She brought Ashley as close as she could and then, without warning, she used her free hand to force Ashley’s mouth open. “Eat it,” she growled, forcing the food inside Ashley’s mouth. Once it was inside Emily grabbed hold of Ash’s jaw and made her chew. Then she massaged Ashley’s throat until she triggered a swallowing reflex.

“Good?” she asked afterward. Ashley quickly nodded.

“Oh, good.” She scooped a handful out of the bag and immediately devoured them. “Mmm. Holy shit, these are good. Can’t get stuff like this out in the wilds.”

“Can I have some?” Jessica, who had apparently climbed the cavern wall while Ashley was distracted, appeared on a jagged hunk of rock by Emily’s side.

“Piss off, spiderbitch.” Emily flicked at her with an idle tentacle. “You can’t even digest solid foods.”

“I know…but you girls are making it seem so appealing…”

“Oh, it _is_ appealing.” Emily downed another handful. “These are like the chocolates you buy at those overpriced little chocolate shops.”

“Actually, they _are_ from an overpriced little chocolate shop.” Ashley wiped a bit of chocolate from her mouth. “It cost me almost forty dollars for that bag.”

“See, that’s what I like about this one,” Emily said to Jessica. “She didn’t have to go all out. She could’ve bought me shitty dollar-store chocolate. But she didn’t.” She patted the top of Ashley’s head with a tentacle. “She’s a keeper.”

“Oh, definitely.” They both laughed, a little longer than what Ash would’ve considered appropriate for what Emily had said.

A tentacle snaked around Ashley’s demure waist. Without a hint of visible effort Emily lifted her into the air by that single tentacle and began stroking her hair with another one. “So what do you want in return?” she asked, already reaching back into the chocolate bag. “You obviously didn’t just buy me this expensive shit for nothing.”

Ashley opened her mouth to protest, but Emily cut her off.

 “And don’t say a kiss,” she said. “Because I fucking hate kissing. I’m not like _that one_ over there.”

 “ _I_ like kissing.” Jessica puckered her lips, almost managing to hide her monstrous fangs.

“You don’t want to kiss Jessica. It’s like kissing a bear trap.”

“Hey, screw you, Ursula.”

A slap from one of Emily’s unoccupied tentacles sent Jessica crashing to the floor. She scrambled to her feet and made a face at Emily.

“I don’t want a kiss,” Ashley finally said. “Maybe we could just…cuddle and talk? Like me and Jessica usually do.”

Emily cocked an eyebrow at her. “Cuddle?”

“…Yes?”

“With someone three times your size?”

Despite the frightening knowledge that she was completely at Emily’s mercy, Ashley managed to temper the quaver in her voice enough to say, once more, “Sure. I mean, if you want to feel like we’re even or something…”

“That’s pretty damn vanilla.” Emily folded her arms and stared down at the human girl in her clutches. “Come on, I’m a tentacle monster. Isn’t there anything else you want me to do? Not that I would necessarily do it, but…”

Attempting to shift to a more comfortable position atop Emily’s tentacle, Ashley lost her hold on the slick limb and tumbled off the side of it. Since Emily had been holding her so close, she landed on the monster girl’s squishy abdomen.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Emily stuck her suckers to Ashley’s back and pulled her into the grasp of her human arms. “This is weird, by the way. I’m weirded out. Just so you know.”

As strange as it sounded, Ash actually sort of liked cuddling with monster girls. It made her feel small and vulnerable, but, in the case of Jessica and Emily, also safe and protected. She lay against Emily’s massive form, nuzzling close to her bosom. Her eyes drifted shut, and she allowed Emily to run her fingers through her long red hair.

In this position, to Ashley Emily felt almost like just another human. It was nice. Ever since she had been selected to act as the go-between of humans and monsters, humans had started avoiding Ashley. She wasn’t sure why, and nobody ever volunteered an explanation. So she’d come to almost look forward to her visits with Emily and Jessica. They were the only ones thus far who had not shunned her.

Emily ran a tentacle up and down Ashley’s back. “I haven’t cuddled with someone like this since the old days,” she murmured, seemingly more to herself than to Ashley.

“The old days?” Ashley opened her eyes briefly.

“When I was human.”

“You were human, too?”

To her surprise, Emily drew back from her. “Where do you think we come from?” Her tone was sharp. She almost sounded a little…hurt? “Do you think I just crawled out of the ocean one day looking like this?” She gestured then to Jessica. “Do you think she hatched from a spider egg and just had some kind of bizarre genetic mutation?”

“I-I don’t know.” Ashley felt her heart begin to accelerate. How had she managed to suddenly piss Emily off so badly? What had she said that was so offensive? “I guess I just thought…you were born like this…”

Not a moment later Ashley found herself on the floor of the cavern. Emily set her down carefully, but not as gently as she’d handled her before Ash had somehow upset her. Before Ashley could attempt to make amends Emily disappeared into the depths of the lake.

The clicking of carapace on stone alerted her to Jessica crawling up behind her. She felt two of Jessica’s legs grasp her around the waist.

“I don’t understand what I did wrong,” Ashley said as she turned toward her.

Jessica wore an expression of sadness, not a typical look for her. “You didn’t do anything, sweetie,” she said. “Just…Em hasn’t been corrupted as long as I have. She’s still kinda sensitive about it.”

Ashley glanced over at the still-rippling water. Emily was nowhere to be seen. “So you’re corrupted humans?” she mustered the courage to ask.

Jessica nodded.

“How did you get corrupted? I mean, um, if it’s not rude to ask…”

Jessica drew a few steps away from Ashley. “I guess it just happens over time. You fight too many monsters, you get exposed to too much corrupted magic…next thing you know the mage guild is sending you off on ‘solo missions’, trying to get you killed because they know you’re close to turning.”

“Solo missions?” Like the one she was on right now?

“Mhm. So you either die in battle, or, if you’re like me and Emily, you hide. You don’t want to die, so you hide out until your transformation is complete. Then you hope they don’t track you down and send more mages to get corrupted by your taint.”

She must have noticed Ashley’s lack of response, for Jessica turned around a few seconds later and added, “I’m sorry, little Ashley. Maybe you were better off not knowing.”

In truth, Ashley simply didn’t know how to respond. She’d heard of older, more experienced mages suddenly “choosing” to only embark on solo hunts, and they would do so until they eventually stopped coming back. And, being a defensive fighter who preferred to hang back and let others charge headlong into the danger, Ash herself had survived a great many monster encounters. She was something of a veteran fighter.

“Everyone has been avoiding me since I got assigned to come here every few weeks. Alone.” Ashley swallowed around a dry patch that had formed in her throat. “They act like I’m already dead.”

“We knew what it meant when you came back.” Jessica closed the gap between her and Ashley again. “We didn’t want to kill your squad in the first place-”

“Then why did you?” Ashley cut her off. “You could’ve talked to us. We would’ve understood! We could have made peace!”

“Actually, we couldn’t. In mage guilds part of the ‘protection spells’ they cast on you before battle prevent you from understanding us.” She knotted her hands together. “They don’t want you to talk to us. They want you to kill us.”

“But…I understood you…”

“That’s how they knew you were corrupting.”

Ashley’s head was spinning. “So they sent me here to die? If I don’t, I – I’m gonna turn into a monster?”

Jessica tapped her forelegs against the ground, perhaps a nervous gesture. “Um, short and painful answer, yes. Like I said, when you came back alone we knew. We tried not to care, tried to just…use you until we got bored of you. But you’re so nice to us…you call us by our human names and you bring us nice food…you make us feel good…make us feel human again…”

Ashley felt herself beginning to shake a little. This was all too much. They had to be lying. They were monsters! How could she trust them?

“If it makes you feel any better, it’s not really… _that_ bad…” Jessica tried to smile. “And you’ll have me and Emily, at least. When I turned I was all alone.”

Ashley picked up her staff and moved away from Jessica, huddling into the far corner of the cavern. She wanted to say something, but she had no idea what to say.

“Ashley?” Jessica approached her. Before she could reach her, Ashley took off running. She left all of her other belongings in the cave, and just bolted blindly out into the wilderness. Jessica called after her, but she didn’t slow down.

 

* * *

 

Two weeks passed. Jessica busied herself spinning the big, luxurious web she’d been talking about creating for ages. Emily spent most of her time sulking in the deeper caverns. They rarely spoke. Both of them felt terribly guilty about upsetting Ashley, but neither of them wanted to own up to that guilt. They both found it easier to blame each other.

Jessica was sleeping on her new web when a voice startled her awake. She immediately assumed a threatening posture, ready to defend herself if need be. As it turned out, there was no need. Little Ashley, clad in the same simple brown cloak she always wore, was the source of the voice.

“Ashley!” Jessica sprung off her web and skittered over to the tiny human. “You came back!” She just barely resisted the urge to throw her arms around the human and squish her to her bosom.

Ashley kept the hood of her cloak up, concealing her eyes and casting a shadow over much of her face.

Jessica’s smile faltered. “…Ashley?”

Ash hesitated for several long seconds. Then, all at once, she pulled down the hood of her cloak.

“Oh my God!” Jessica squealed. She reached impulsively for the two tiny horns growing out of Ashley’s head. Ashley slapped her away. “Oh, I mean, uh, oh _nooo…_!”

Ashley rolled her eyes. “This is terrible, you know! Not cute, or – or _squeal_ -worthy!”

“I know, I’m sorry.” Jessica wrung her hands bashfully. “They’re just so…”

A mass of tentacles shot out from the nearest edge of the lake, showering Jessica and Ashley with displaced water. “Ashley’s back?” Emily popped her head out of the water a moment later. When she saw how close Ashley was she shifted her excited expression to a coyer, more neutral one.

“Yes! And look!” Jessica pointed at Ashley’s horns.

Emily’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. Do you know what you’re turning into yet?”

“No.” Ashley reached up and touched her own horn nubs. “But…these aren’t the only new thing.”

“Ooh, what else have you got?” Jessica dropped her half-hearted attempt at seeming sympathetic. She was just flat-out excited now.

Ashley’s gaze dropped to the floor. Slowly she lowered a hand from her new horns and pushed her long hair back. It swung over her shoulder, exposing an elongated and slightly pointed ear underneath.

“Cute!” Jessica squeaked. “Anything else?”

“No, not…really.” Ashley pulled her cloak tighter around her. “Um, well, little things, but not anything major.”

“Like what?”

Ashley shrugged. “My legs suddenly got really, um, hairy…I tried to shave them, but it came back even thicker.”

Jessica waited. Ashley shifted a bit, then sighed and exposed one leg. As she’d said, it was covered in orange hair, from her upper thigh all the way down to her ankle.

“Damn, that’s a freakin’ forest.” It was so thick it looked more like a coat of fur than human hair.

“Yeah, I know.” Ashley’s cheeks reddened a bit. “It’s almost like I’m growing, like, fur or something…”

“That’s one thing I don’t miss about being human.” Emily turned in the water, exposing all of her smooth, bare flesh. “Never have to wax anymore.”

“Same here!” Jessica nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“Well that’s just _wonderful_ for you guys!” Ashley scowled. “Apparently I’m just gonna end up hairy and…” She lifted a hand toward her horns, but then stopped, as if she thought better of what she was about to say.

Jessica snickered. “Horny?”

Ashley slapped her forehead.

“Look, Ash,” Emily said, her solemn tone contrasting Jessica’s more lighthearted approach, “In all seriousness, I know it’s hard to accept. You feel hurt. Maybe you feel a little mad. Hell, maybe you’re _really_ mad. I don’t know. But if you’re gonna get through this you’ve got to tell yourself, you know what? Just, fuck it. Fuck the mage guild. Fuck everyone who knows what’s eventually going to happen to all us mages. Who sent you out here hoping that either we’d kill you or they’d get a little more monster-killing use out of you before you turned. Fuck them. Soon you’ll be stronger than they ever will.”

 “ _And_ you’ll have allies,” Jessica added, pointing to herself and Emily.

“Yeah.” Emily shrugged. “It could be a lot worse.”

Ashley kept her gaze on the ground for a while. Then, eventually, she stripped out of her cloak and walked over to Jessica. Jessica beamed. “Aww, c’mere.” She scooped little Ashley up in her arms and nuzzled her affectionately.

“Hey, look.” Emily pointed a tentacle at Ashley’s backside. Jessica flipped her over and gasped. Ashley had grown a furry little tail. “Ahh!” Jessica reached out and lightly stroked the new nub. Ashley squirmed in her arms. “Look at your cute little tail!”

“I have a tail?!” Ashley tried to twist around in Jessica’s arms enough to see her own backside.

“Hey, I think I might know what you’re turning into, Ashley.” Emily looked her over. “The tail…the horns…the furry legs…the pointy ears…”

“Oh God, what?”

Emily smirked. “I think you’re gonna be one of those goat-girls. Satyrs, I think they call them?”

“A goat?” Ashley’s fear dissolved into something possibly akin to annoyance. “Seriously? A goat?”

“Hey, satyrs are cute. They prance around the forest all day, playing their little lyres or whatever. Humans love them. Think they’re beautiful, or inspiring, or something.” Emily paused. “At least you’re not turning into a fucking octopus.”

“Or a _spider_.” Jessica sighed.

“Yeah. Count your blessings, fuzzball.”

“I don’t even _know_ if I’m turning into a ‘satyr’. I could be turning into a full-on goat for all we know!”

“Well if that’s the case then we’ll make sure to get you some nice, fresh hay.” Emily’s comeback was instantaneous.

Ashley paled. “That’s not funny! Do you think I could really turn into a goat??”

“Of course not, sweetie,” Jessica said. “Em’s just teasing you. You’ll probably end up like us, half-human, half-something-else.”

“Goat,” Emily cut in. “I’m calling it now. I want everyone to remember I was right when I called it.”

“This is awful! I don’t want to turn into _anything_!” Ashley buried herself in Jessica’s embrace.

Jessica looked to Emily, narrowing her eyes just a bit. Emily threw her hands up in an irritated shrug, but after Jessica maintained her glare Em finally gave in. “…Sorry,” she murmured at Ashley. “I know it’s not funny. I was scared shitless when it happened to me.”

“She came stumbling into my cave all half-legs, half-tentacles, crying her little heart out.” Jessica softened her glare on Emily as she cradled Ashley in her arms. “And I took her in and helped her through the change. Even though she was mean as hell about it.”

“I was mad.”

“Not at me.”

“No, but you were the only one around. I had to take it out on somebody.”

They both realized then that Ashley had fallen quite silent. Jessica glanced down to find that the frail little human she held was quietly crying. Jessica gingerly patted her on the back.

Emily apparently noticed Ashley crying as well. “Oh, come on…” She stretched a tentacle over to Ashley and wrapped it loosely around one of her wrists. “Don’t – don’t cry. Come on.”

Jessica ran her hand up and down Ashley’s back. Ash kept her face buried in Jessica’s chest. “What will make you feel better?” Jessica asked her. Ashley simply whined in response. “Do you want food?” she asked. “I could probably catch you something.”

Ashley shook her head.

“Do you want…….kisses?”

Again Ashley shook her head.

“…Do you want to just cuddle for a while?”

Ashley hesitated for a moment. Then she nodded.

“Okay, we can do that!” Jessica pulled her into a tight, protective embrace. “You can cuddle me as long as you want.”

They settled into the corner of the cavern, where Jessica rested Ashley on her abdomen. Ash held on tightly to her. They remained in that position for hours, Jessica occasionally patting her back and whispering what she hoped were words of reassurance to the human girl. Emily hung around for a while, but eventually told Jessica she was going to sleep and disappeared into the water. Still Jessica stayed with Ashley.

After a long, long time – Jessica could no longer see any light from the mouth of the cave – she realized Ashley had nodded off. With one foreleg she reached over to Ashley’s shed cloak, dragged it over, and used it to blanket Ashley’s bare skin. Gentle as she was about it, apparently the small bit of contact was still enough to rouse Ashley from her sleep.

“Sorry,” Jessica whispered as Ashley opened her bleary eyes. “I was just trying to cover you up so you wouldn’t get cold.”

Ashley glanced around the room. It was much darker than it had been when she fell asleep, and Jessica assumed she was noticing such. “It’s dark out now,” Jessica added. “I don’t know how safe you’ll be when you leave-”

“I’m not leaving.”

“What?” Jessica balked.

Ashley weaseled her way back into a comfortable position in Jessica’s arms. “There’s no point in going back to my town – everyone’ll be able to see that I’m turning. They’ll either send me away or kill me. I’m staying here.”

Jessica struggled to mask her relief. She’d been terrified to send Ashley back into the hands of humans. She knew firsthand how cruel they could be toward a mage who was beginning to show signs of corruption. Even though Ashley was still more human than monster, she would surely be rejected by them. Just as all those years ago, with her baby fangs and the small, barely-noticeable patches of chitin mottling her pale flesh, Jessica had been exiled from the very same town.

“Okay,” she softly replied.

Ashley soon drifted back to sleep on top of Jessica. Jessica remained cuddled up with her all through the long, cold night.

* * *

 

_Several weeks later_

Ashley awoke to the sound of Jessica singing. It was the same as every other morning – the melodious voice would echo through the caverns, Ashley would pick up on the noise, lifting a floppy ear toward the origin of the sound, and then she would fully wake to realize what it was.

This time it seemed to be coming from a different location than usual. Ashley sat up from her leaf bed and rubbed her bleary eyes. She didn’t see Jess or Em anywhere. “Guys?” she called. She got to her hooves and trotted – as well as a bipedal, newly-hoofed creature could trot – across the empty cavern, trying to determine by sound just where in the caves Jessica was.

“ _Aaaashleeeey!_ ” Jessica’s voice echoed through the room. She sounded close to the entrance. “ _Come find me!_ ”

Ash was still getting used to walking on cloven hooves instead of feet. As always, Emily had been right – as the weeks went on it became increasingly obvious her monster transformation was into a satyr. A satyress, if you wanted to get technical. Her bottom half was completely covered in fur, the same radiant orange as her hair. She’d sprouted a furry little tail and grew ears that flopped downward. Her eyes had turned yellow, and her pupils had shifted into strange-looking horizontal black bars. She had horns – though of course not anything intimidating. They were small and curved backward. Jessica called them “adorable”. Ashley had reluctantly accepted that Fate was determined to make her the least frightening monster in the world.

All things considered, however, being a monster was surprisingly…not so bad. In fact, she felt happier than she’d felt as a human in a long time. She was stronger and faster than she’d been before. She didn’t have to return to a town full of humans who ignored her every day. _And_ she could walk around buck naked without anyone batting an eye.

It was actually pretty nice.

She wandered down the long, dark passageway that led to the outside. “Over here, Ash.” Emily’s voice resounded from around a nearby twist in the “hallway”. Ashley’s hoof trots must have given her presence away.

As she rounded the corner she discovered Emily just outside, by the entrance of the cave. Jessica was perched on her shoulder, tucking something into Em’s hair. As Ashley approached she realized they were flowers. Jessica’s own hair was already filled with them. Her hair was also braided down her back, in a manner she couldn’t possibly have done herself.

“Morning, Ash!” Jessica finished entwining Emily’s inky black hair with colorful wildflowers. Then she climbed down one of her tentacles and landed in front of Ashley. “Nice to be out in the sunshine, huh?”

It was. Ashley had been terrified to leave the cave for the first few weeks after her transformation. Jess and Emily rarely left it either, but lately they seemed to be making an extra effort to do so. Perhaps it was an attempt to ease Ashley’s fears.

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

Jessica selected a yellow flower from her fistful and handed it to Ashley. Without thinking Ash took it, pushed it into her mouth and eagerly chewed it up.

“Hey, goatgirl’s eating your flower.” Emily pointed a tentacle at her. Ashley’s cheeks reddened as she hastily swallowed the mashed-up mush of petal, leaf, and stem.

Jessica, who was already hunting for more flowers, turned around and gasped when she saw the yellow flower gone. “Hey! I picked that one just for you! It was special!”

“It was good,” Ashley replied with a sheepish smile. “If that makes you feel any better.”

Emily grabbed Ash around the waist and scooped her up. She held Ashley close to her face for a moment before dropping her onto her stomach. “Stay up here,” she said. “We _obviously_ can’t trust you with the flowers.”

Ashley reclined on Emily, watching Jessica scuttle about in pursuit of perfect plants.

“She thinks we should decorate the cave a little,” Em said.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that.” Ashley watched Jess pull up an entire tiger lily, roots and all.

“Are you gonna eat ‘em?” Emily prodded her with a tentacle.

“I’ll try not to.” Ashley grinned sheepishly up at her. Emily brushed her cheek with the tip of the tentacle she’d just poked her with. Ashley turned and nipped playfully at it. She caught the limb in her flat, herbivorous teeth and nibbled it lightly. Emily pulled it away from her for a moment, then wrapped the tentacle around Ashley’s waist instead.

“Do you guys like lilies?” Jessica called up to them. Her fistful of wildflowers had grown significantly larger.

“Sure,” Emily replied. Ashley nodded.

Jessica giggled at the sight of Ashley all wrapped up in Emily’s monstrous limbs. “Look at you two. Thought you didn’t like cuddling, Em.”

“I deal with it.” She stroked Ashley’s hair with her human fingers. Ash’s stubby tail started to wag involuntarily. “You know, for Ashley.”

Jessica folded her arms. “Are you trying to make me jealous, Miss Emily?”

“That depends. Are you jealous?”

“…Maybe.”

“Well I have four more tentacles.” She raised her free limbs a little. “There’s plenty of me to go around.”

Jessica seemed to consider the offer. Then after a few moments she shook her head. “Nah. I’m gonna finish flower-picking first. Might take you up on that offer later, though.”

They exchanged those tiny, coy smiles they were always giving each other. Ashley rarely saw Emily smile any other time.

For a while after that they fell into a comfortable silence. Emily was more just holding Ashley than actively cuddling with her, but Ashley didn’t mind.

Then, after some time, Emily spoke up. “So, it’s not too bad, right?” she asked. “Being like this?”

Ashley paused for a moment. “I guess it could be worse. I mean, it’d _definitely_ be worse if I didn’t have you two.”

Emily stroked the side of Ashley’s face. “When I first started to transform I thought about just letting myself be killed by another mage.”

Ashley glanced up at her. “You did?” She hadn’t even considered dying to escape her fate. She was far too cowardly, too afraid of death to ever even think about planning her own.

Emily watched Jessica scurry around in the distance. “Yeah. But then I met Jess, and she manages to be so damn chipper all the time. She showed me life could still be fun even after I…changed. When you came along, I guess I wanted to sort of pay it forward. I know I’m not as happy-go-lucky as spidergirl over there, but I figured I’d at least make an effort.”

“I like both of you,” Ashley said. “And I’m glad you guys took me in.”

“Yeah?” Emily hesitated. “Thanks. I, uh, like you too.”

Ashley smiled. Then she said, “You know, I was thinking about disguising myself and sneaking into town to get us some chocolate.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Holy crap. You could probably do it if you wore that cloak of yours. Just cover your horns with the hood.”

“They won’t think it’s weird I have horizontal pupils?”

“Just don’t make much eye contact,” Emily replied. “Look, now that you brought this up you can’t back out of it. I need my chocolate fix.”

“We could always just raid the town for it.” Ashley grinned.

“Surrender your chocolate, puny humans!” Emily swung her limbs in mock ferocity. Ashley laughed. “God, though,” Em added, “It’s so nice to be able to just devour whatever I want and not feel like I have to spend hours at the gym afterward. You don’t know how big a deal that was for me when I was human. In this form I’m just always gonna be huge. I’ve accepted it and I don’t care anymore.”

“It makes you a really comfortable pillow.” Ashley reclined on Emily’s soft, squishy stomach.

“Yeah, yeah.” Emily pretended to be annoyed with Ashley’s response.

The sun warmed Ashley’s bare skin as it beamed directly down on her. She knew Emily couldn’t stay out of the water for too much longer, especially in direct sunlight, so she tried to appreciate every minute of it. Warmed by the sun and soothed by Emily’s hold on her, eventually she felt herself starting to nod off again.  She drifted to sleep to the sound of Jessica singing once more.

* * *

 

_Epilogue_

Sam swallowed hard as she double-checked the map. This was supposedly the right location. The cave where a mage named Ashley had disappeared just a few short months ago. She’d been on a veteran solo mission, just as Sam was on now.

Pushing her fears aside, Sam raised her staff and marched boldly forward into the cave. She could hear voices from inside. As she approached she realized they were speaking human words. _Monsters don’t speak,_ she immediately thought to herself. _Is there a human in here?_

Laughter echoed down the winding passageway. It was genuine, not wicked or taunting. The sound eased Sam’s fears a little bit. The cave must have been inhabited by some humans.

The passage soon opened up into a massive cavern. The place looked very “lived in” – bunches of flowers were stuffed into every rock crevice, adding a little color to the dull brown walls. One section of the far wall was decorated with what appeared to be some sort of yet-to-be-finished silk tapestry, woven in an abstract design. Torches along the walls lit the room and gave a certain warmth to the otherwise cool, damp air.

The voices were coming from a little deeper into the cave. Whoever was talking and laughing apparently had not yet noticed her presence. Sam used this opportunity to creep quietly through the big room, toward an opening at the far end that seemed to lead to another passageway.

Something splashed behind her. Sam turned and fixed her gaze on the pond tucked in one end of the room. Its surface was rippling. Maybe a chunk of rock had fallen into it, she thought. She didn’t see anything beneath the surface, even upon closer inspection – so with a quiet exhalation she continued her trek deeper into the cave.

 _“Wow Ash, you’ve got a real knack for this! Maybe I’ll actually finish this thing with you helping.”_ A girl’s voice traveled down the passageway to Sam. Sam paused. Ash? Could that be the missing mage she was searching for, Ashley?

Maybe sneaking up on them wasn’t such a good idea. They seemed friendly, and startling them could result in an unnecessarily hostile encounter. As much a pacifist as someone who was forced to hunt other creatures for a living could be, Sam preferred to avoid conflict whenever possible. So she decided to call out to them.

“Hello?” she said, trying to sound as unthreatening as possible. “Is the mage Ashley here?”

The chatter and laughter immediately dropped off. Sam was answered by a long, imposing silence.

“If you’re here, I’m friendly.” She tried to maintain a confident tone. “The mage guild sent me to clean out the monsters here. And I’m looking for a mage named ‘Ashley’. They said you were probably dead, but I wanted to look anyway…”

Still no answer.

“I just…heard someone say ‘Ash’, so I thought it might be…”

“You can understand us?” This voice belonged to a different girl than the one she’d heard a moment ago. It was smaller, quieter.

Sam cocked an eyebrow. “…Yes?”

A second lengthy silence followed her response. Then the first girl asked, “Are you alone?”

Sam hesitated, but ultimately decided on an honest answer. “Yes. I’m on a solo mission from the guild. I was sent to-”

Her words died in her throat as a monstrous shadow rose over her. As she was about to turn toward the pond to see what had created it, the passageway before her filled with the looming girth of an arachne – and with it a smaller, horned monster. They both looked about as eager to fight as Sam did.

Sam raised her staff. This was always the worst part. She hated hurting other creatures…

Suddenly a sticky tentacle whipped out and seized her staff. It pulled the wooden weapon right out of her hands and brought it over to a gigantic tentacle monster, the source of the shadow from the pond.

“Let’s not fight,” the arachne said, raising an open palm toward Sam.

“Why can you speak?” Sam attempted to maintain a cold tone, but it was a useless effort. Giving her magic abilities was one of Fate’s biggest mistakes – she cared far too much about the wellbeing of all creatures to be a successful hunter. Now that trait was surely about to be her downfall.

The spider girl lowered herself to Sam’s level. She wasn’t exhibiting any typical arachne signs of aggression – darting movement, fangs dripping with venom, and so on. She seemed merely to look upon Sam as a human would make polite eye contact with another while addressing them.

“Let’s talk,” the girl said.

 


End file.
